What is disclosed and claimed herein is a mechanically induced vacuum driven delivery system for providing pre-vaporized fuel to an internal combustion engine, the major benefit being that fuel can be precisely controlled.
There are many prior art patents in this field, among them, one can find U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,390 issued on Aug. 10, 1976 to Jeroszko, which deals with a low emission combustion chamber in which a premixed fuel rich-air mixture is discharged uniformly into hot products of combustion of a pilot combustion zone to be vaporized. Combustion air is added.
U.S. Statutory Invention Registration H1466 that published Aug. 1, 1995 to Stapf, discloses an oxygen injection system. The engine flushes fuel to stabilize the catalyst and the material is held in a high pressure tank for storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,517 issued on Jul. 22, 1997 to Poola, et al, deals with an air separating membrane in a variable oxygen/nitrogen enriched intake air system for internal combustion engine applications. Oxygen is put into the intake and nitrogen is input into the exhaust.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,187 issued on Sep. 30, 1997 to Rock et al, deals with a system and process for fuel which includes a plurality of vortex stacks of sequential vortex elements based on fuel inputs or conditions operationally coupled with an integrated pre-manifold centrifuge type-cyclone scrubber.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,188 Issued May 5, 1998 to Cooke deals with an apparatus for heating and vaporizing a liquid hydrocarbon fuel supplied to an internal combustion engine. The device is a baffled housing and the fuel is heated to promote vaporization. In one embodiment, exhaust may be introduced into the interior of the housing and mixed with the vaporized and heated fuel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,000 issued Feb. 16, 1939 to Ratner deals with creating turbulence within a housing and using metallic materials to reduce the density of the fuel and thereby increasing fuel burn efficiency.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,702 issued on Mar. 15, 1999 to Arkfeld deals with a catalyzed fuel wherein there is a housing and contained within the housing, metals that are catalytic.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,787, issued Feb. 22, 2000 to Sun, et al deals with a mixture of gaseous fuel such as propane and/or natural gas. Controllers and regulators are used to signal the fuel feed depending on the vehicle's exhaust oxygen sensors.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,772 issued Apr. 4, 2000 to Szydlowski deals with a fuel atomizer that vaporizes both fuel and steam for injection into a fuel reformer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,160 issued Jan. 16, 2001 to Lee, et al, deals with a method and apparatus to pre-vaporize and premix liquid and or gaseous fuels with air in two stages at two different temperatures prior to combustion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,518 issued Feb. 20, 2011 to Cooke, deals with an apparatus for heating and vaporizing a liquid hydrocarbon fuel supplied to an internal combustion engine. A venturi shaped inner sleeve of the apparatus is heated to promote vaporization of the liquid hydrocarbon fuel injected into the interior of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,915, issued Nov. 13, 2001 to Pugachev deals with an apparatus that allegedly pulverizes and makes the fuel gaseous for use in an internal combustion engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,860 issued Dec. 11, 2001 to Critchley deals with a premix fuel injector for use in gas turbine engines and combustion systems. The injector has a premix chamber having an inlet for receiving a flow of pressurized air and having an exit. A venture is coupled to the exit of the premix chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,721 issued Apr. 1, 2003 to Oikawa et al deals with a fuel and gas mixer for a gas turbine combustors and includes a conical annulus communicating with a smaller end of a downstream truncated conical chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,692 issued Nov. 29, 2005 to Chin et al, deals with a fuel/air premising module for gas turbine engines. It uses a plurality of fixed swirler vanes to do the mixing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,421 issued Aug. 3, 2004 to Newhouse et al, deals with a vaporization system for liquid hydrocarbon fuel in a closed system prior to entry into an internal combustion engine. The fuel is heated to boiling, but not to the vapor stage, to prevent flash point problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,980,230 issued Jul. 19, 2011 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,020,537 that issued Sep. 20, 2011 to Smart deal with a fuel vaporizer for an internal combustion engine having a closed pressure chamber defining a volume, to be heated, and a liquid fuel supply system disposed to emit a liquid fuel spray. It is a closed pressure chamber system.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,074,895 that issued Dec. 13, 2011 to Mao, et al deals with a fuel injection system requiring a piezoelectric injector for delivering atomized fuel to an engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,266,911 issued Sep. 18, 2012 to Evulet deals with a premixing device including an air inlet configured to introduce compressed air into a mixing chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,464,694 issued Jun. 18, 2013 deals with a system and method for providing fuel to internal combustion engines including fuel activation prior to injection. It includes exhaust gas recirculation which can be easily added to existing diesel and gasoline engine fuel supply systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,495,990 issued Jul. 30, 2013 to Rivera et al deals with a pre-injection fuel atomization system for a combustion engines that reduces droplet size of incoming fuel at the air intake creating an aerosol. It uses a vibrating crystal in a transducer for this activity.
It was determined by the inventors herein that none of the prior art set forth Supra anticipates or makes the instant invention obvious.